Women's Constitutional Rights - Violated in Swaziland

No Mother's Day celebration until the Swazi government aligns the laws of the land with the United Nations Geneva convention laws "Mothers Day"; A day where all mothers globally celebrate social, economic and political achievement and yet on the contrary in my own motherland none of this applies to Swazi women.

Women in Swaziland still face horrendous, ill-treatment and inequality due to the fact that the patriarchal culture still practiced and promoted by the King and the government has the inequalities engrained in it, society still views women as subordinates to men. As a patriotic Swazi Human rights activist and feminist, I call upon the Swazi government as well as King Mswati III to put an end to the abuse of young girls and women. The authorities cannot continue to turn a blind eye on the abuses and injustices faced by both women and young girls. According to ACTSA (ACTion for Southern for Southern Africa), gender based violence is common in Swaziland, women including young girls are raped beaten and constantly harassed on a daily basis. Even though rape is illegal and punishable, acquittal rates prove to be high and surprisingly offenders are even given lighter jail sentences. With high rates of HIV / AIDS we cannot afford to ignore such behaviour. We demand a government which is democratically elected which protects its citizens, we the Swazi people say !!!!

• DOWN with Tinkundla system that's biased which prevents women from participating in politics.

• DOWN with traditional laws that class women as minors.

• DOWN with oppressive legislations.

• DOWN with child marriages .

• DOWN with polygamy we call on King Mswati III, the legislators and the Swaziland government to change laws that discriminate against women.

According to Swaziland's constitution section 28 (2), the government shall provide facilities and opportunities necessary to enhance women's welfare and advancement; the problem with this provision is that the constitution states this is dependent on the availability of resources - of which, as every Swazi who is politically awakened knows, that this is an escape clause, because the government can claim it does not have enough resources at any time if and when it does not want to fulfil its obligations to the women of Swaziland.

We demand the government to make these facilities and opportunities readily available at all times, women's welfare and upliftment should never be compromised, neither be made optional, nor be dependent on undefined and non-precise criteria. We need laws that prohibit and protect young (under-aged) girls from getting married young, furthermore we want a Swaziland that prohibits polygamy.

We demand the people of Swaziland be given the opportunity to elect their desired government, Swaziland should be a democratic country with no one influencing or controlling the supreme executive, legislative and judiciary system. We want all political parties to participate freely without any arrests, torture, intimidation and even death.